Downtown Advisory Board

1 City of Gainesville Downtown Advisory Board MINUTES April 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m. City Hall, Roberta Lisle Kline Conference Room (Room 16) 200 East University Ave Gainesville, FL 32601 Members Present: Teresa Callen, Timothy Hutchens, Jacob Ihde, Anthony Lyons, Linda McGurn, Sara Puyana Members Absent: Vice-Chair Richard Allen _____________________________________________________________________ A. CALL TO ORDER B. ROLL CALL C. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Moved by Anthony Lyons Seconded by Timothy Hutchens Member Lyons moved to change to order of the agenda as to allow Mr. Forrest Edleton of the Dept. of Sustainable Development to address the Board on the matter of the Sidewalk Cafe railings. Member Callen seconded the motion Approved D. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Moved by Timothy Hutchens Seconded by Teresa Callen Approved

2 E. CONSENT F. REQUEST TO ADDRESS THE BOARD Moved by Anthony Lyons Seconded by Timothy Hutchens The chair is authorized to write a response to the City comments, which will also be sent to the City Plan board with the following item: no technical accessibility problem. Design standards are essential, and this board will continue to work on that; the transparency issue is important and could be more than 75% since building frontages require high transparency Approved G. BUSINESS DISCUSSION ITEMS Parking: Regarding the parking dash board report, member McGurn is requesting a more granular report that breaks down the citations issued by location. The request will be submitted from the Chair. Moved by Teresa Callen Seconded by Sara Puyana Downtown Parking - The Board authorizes the Chair to write a letter to the City Commission addressing the following points regarding Downtown Parking: 1. Re-iterating support for the September meeting regarding parking with the exception 2. The zones should only be used for setting of the price 3. The Board directs the Chair to advise the City how parking has become political and assisted competitors in Downtown 4. Request to stop the daytime fees and activate nighttime fees, and remove the two-hour time limit for nighttime parking on a test basis 5. Request how much money is coming in and the costs associated with it for street parking (i.e. provide better accounting); and

3 6. Open parking on SW 1st Avenue Approved Moved by Linda McGurn Seconded by Jacob Ihde Advise the City to consider a cohesive design scheme when considering SE 1st Ave and SW 1st Ave. keeping historic brick elements. 1. 2025-262 Downtown Parking Continued Discussion (B) Recommendation: The Downtown Advisory Board continues its discussion on the downtown parking. 2. 2025-276 Business Improvement Grant Program Implementation Review (B) GCRA Staff presented to the Downtown Advisory Board (DAB) a Business Improvement Grant (BIG) Program initial cycle review with a request for them to provide guidance on modifications. The Board commented concerning the Applicant’s financial capability to complete work. Staff agreed that they would incorporate in the application an attestation as to their capability to complete work. Additionally, staff did show that the Program requires work to have commenced within three months. Staff will bring back proposed revisions to the Board at the May Meeting as a marked up document for the Board to review. Recommendation: The Downtown Advisory Board provides feedback and recommendations on the Business Improvement Grant Program. 3. 2025-278 Downtown Advisory Board Annual Report 2024-2025 (B) Qualtrex Poll with the 5 questions sent to the Board earlier. Provide top 3 answers for each question to the Board at the May meeting for them to construct the responses. Member Callen read the questions to be considered Recommendation: GCRA staff answers DAB's questions about the City Commission-appointed Boards and Committees' annual report.

4 4. 2025-285 Downtown Advisory Board Recommendations to the City Commission (B) Recommendation: The DAB reviews the log of the recommendations submitted to the City Commission and discusses next steps. H. PUBLIC COMMENT I. COMMUNICATIONS DAB Members Expiring Terms J. BOARD MEMBER COMMENT Multiple members requested an Agenda item in May to discuss the PW Director's email response to Signal Lighting at intersections. Member Lyons mentioned that the Hyatt was the victim of graffiti and was advised that because the Ambassador's contract excluded that location, they are not the ones to clean it. Director Smith discussed this issue. Members discussed a lot of vagrancy expanding outward from Grace and recommended referring of that issue to the GCRA Advisory Board. Member McGurn asked that public space beautification in the downtown be added to next month’s agenda. An update was requested by the board on the downtown trash compactor contract negotiation. Member McGurn, on behalf of Ken McGurn, requested the production of a Downtown flyer that can be distributed to market Gainesville’s downtown. For next Meeting  Add public space beautification to the May  Trash compactor  Consider producing a downtown brochure to be displayed at the airport and other places K. NEXT MEETING DATE Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. L. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:56 a.m.

5 _________________________ Rick Smith, Director of Community Reinvestment Area